TRADE MINISTER ADVISES ASSEMBLIES IN WR (PAGE 23, JAN 1, 2011)

THE Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, has urged the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Western Region to buy the idea of building model market structures through collaborative efforts and funding arrangements such as Public-Private Partnership arrangements (PPP).
She said physical markets have played very critical roles in the development of entrepreneurship, business and creation of wealth in many countries.
“There is abundant evidence that countries that have robust economies are undoubtedly those which took advantage of the benefits of markets for efficient and effective distribution of goods and services, reduction of costs of doing business, and the promotion of the convergence of interests of buyers and sellers,” she added.
This was contained in an address read on behalf of Ms Tetteh at a ceremony to launch a road show on model market designs in the Western Region in Takoradi.
The event was part of a nationwide programme aimed at building model markets for all regional, metropolitan, municipal and district capitals, as well as some major towns in the country.
The proposed market designs encapsulate facilities such as roads for free movement of vehicles and human beings in and around the market, spacious car parks for loading and unloading, health facilities for traders and consumers, well-laid-out drainage within and outside the markets, places of convenience, day care centres for the children of traders and residents of the neighbourhood, play ground and appropriate storage facilities for various goods and services, post offices and police posts.
Ms Tetteh was certain that if the MMDAs incorporated the provision of modern market structures into their programmes as projects and diligently pursued them, they would get funding as markets were bankable projects and offered high yields on investment capital.
She added that it might not be out of proportion to cherish a dream of providing modern market complexes for their communities.
According to Ms Tetteh, the Ministry of Trade and Industry had already compiled a list of prospective investors who had expressed strong interest in financing the construction of the market structures.
She said some of them had expressed interest in the PPP and other funding arrangements, adding, “I, therefore, challenge all concerned here to face the task head on and modernise our communities commencing with the provision of modern market structures”.
“It is imperative for all to accept that Ghana’s quest and desire to be an upper middle income country with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of US$2,000 would be an illusion without the country possessing an efficient and functional domestic trade and distribution infrastructure,” she stressed.
However, Ms Tetteh noted that most of the markets in the country today fell short of the ideal physical markets that we could rely on for business efficiency.
She said most markets suffered from congestion and unhygienic premises, lacked adequate storage facilities, had no fire protection, had no running water, and were over-crowded.
Ms Tetteh said market structures were old and so poorly organised that they could no longer support the pressures of present times.
She noted with regret that the whole nation was forced to contend with enormous socio-economic disruptions, and very often government was put under pressure, whenever there was fire outbreak in a market, to support victims and provide livelihood for business people who had toiled for all these years only to lose everything to fire.
Ms Tetteh said in the singular circumstance as the region of emerging oil and gas industry, the Western Region could adapt and expand those structures to include specialised wings to stock items which would be needed to service the oil and gas sector.
She stated that investors in the oil and gas sector insisted on value for money and that traders could only get them to patronise their local market after the traders had painstakingly provided a proper and attractive market place.
“We must position ourselves to get some of the oil wealth and one way of doing this is to entice the investors to spend on local activities,” she emphasised.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, in an address read on his behalf, said local markets did not only create an enabling environment for trade and income generation, but also reduced transaction cost of market users and were critical in the economy of the communities in which the agricultural sector played a dominant role.
He stressed the need for the people to recognise the importance of markets to revenue generation, and put in place a systematic approach to the operation and maintenance, to ensure effective and efficient management of the day-to-day activities in the markets.